This renewed campaign by Ankara to target IS in Jarabulus is raising questions about Turkey’s next move in Syria, analysts said, and about what roles competing forces in the region targeting IS will play.
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Turkish special forces inside Syria were supported by Turkish and US-led coalition air strikes, the government said. More than 330 foreign ministry staff have been recalled or suspended since the abortive putsch, and 31 are still being sought, he also said.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s office said the operation, carried out by Turkish and USA -backed coalition forces, began at 4 a.m. (0100 GMT), with Turkish artillery launching intense cross-border fire on Jarablus, followed by Turkish warplanes bombing IS targets in the town, Anadolu said.
Meanwhile, dozens of Turkish tanks and armored personnel carriers were positioned on the Turkish side of the border.
Their growing influence has alarmed Ankara, which is fighting its own insurgency with militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, who officials blame for an escalation of attacks in the southeast of Turkey.
Soon after the attack, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said IS was the likely perpetrator but Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Monday that investigators actually did “not have a clue”.
ISIS-controlled Manbij city was liberated earlier this month by the Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces.
The U.S. -backed SDF said that any Turkish incursion into Syria would have unintended consequences in the fight against IS.
United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that 40,000 people are thought to have fled to suburban neighborhoods and nearby villages and more than 25,000 others have fled to cities and villages north of the city since August 18.
However Yildirim on Monday said Turkey still had no clue who carried out the attack and said all “rumours” over the age and affiliation of the bomber should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The latest developments have thrust the town of Jarablus onto centre stage in the continuing Syrian civil war, putting US-backed Kurdish forces, who have been the most effective force against ISIL in northern Syria, on track for a confrontation with Turkey over control of the town.
Turkey had declared the border area a “special security zone”, and asked journalists not to try access it, citing safety concerns and threats posed by the IS.
A senior USA official aboard Biden’s plane told reporters that Washington was “in synch” with Turkey on the operation.
He said the commander of Kurdish-dominated forces headed to Jarablus, Abdel Satar Al Jader, was also “assassinated” on Monday after announcing he planned to resist the Turkish advance.
The council, in a statement issued after his death, accused Turkish security agents of being behind the slaying.
On Tuesday, Syrian state media and the Kurdish Hawar News Agency both announced the implementation of a cease-fire in Hasakeh, evidently brokered by Russian Federation.
Syrian state media says a cease-fire between government and Kurdish forces in Hasakeh has gone into effect, six days after fierce clashes erupted between the two sides over control of the northern Syrian city.
A few miles east of Jarablus, Assad forces agreed a truce with Kurdish forces in the city of Hasakah yesterday. Government and Kurdish forces have shared control of Hasakeh since the early years of the Syrian war.
The two sides agreed to exchange “bodies of the martyrs and captives” at 9 p.m. local time.
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At the meeting a total of 586 colonels were retired from the Turkish Armed Forces.
